Quotes to inspire and reflect

What we do not understand we do not possess.

What the heart knows today, the head will understand tomorrow.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.

To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice.

Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.

The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.

Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.

Reason deceives us; conscience, never.

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.

The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement.

It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who craves more.

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

When we have provided against cold, hunger and thirst, all the rest is but vanity and excess.

To see what is in front of one’s nose requires a constant struggle.

In the long run men hit only what they aim at.

Hold fast to dreams/For if dreams die/Life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly.

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.

I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant.

Imagination offers people consolation for what they cannot be, and humor for what they actually are.

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

Imagination is the true magic carpet.

Imagination is a good horse to carry you over the ground—not a flying carpet to set you free from probability.

A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

Misfortunes one can endure—they come from outside; they are accidents. But to suffer for one’s own faults—ah, there is the sting of life.

We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

One can only face in others what one can face in oneself.

When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others.

To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.

The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability he has.

Man loves company—even if it is only that of a small burning candle.

We cannot confront solitude without moral resources.

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait until the other is ready.

A peace which depends upon fear is nothing but a suppressed war.

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.

The great tragedies of history occur not when right confronts wrong but when two rights confront each other.

It was the same with those old birds in Greece and Rome as it is now. The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.

Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.

I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.

The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.